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January 5, 2016

Author Solutions Sold to Private Equity Firm

I was working on my usual year-end roundup post, when I spotted this, in PW:

Penguin Random House has sold its Author Solutions division to an affiliate of the Najafi Companies, a private investment firm that at one point owned Bookspan and made an offer to buy several hundred Borders outlets after the chain filed for Chapter 11.

The terms of the deal, which closed on December 31, have not been disclosed.

Quoted in PW, AS's CEO, Andrew Phillips, promises that "day-to-day operations will not change following the sale." Phillips also says that he's "excited to be part of a company where Author Solutions will be more of a focus," which I find interesting: has PRH been letting AS languish, or will the sale simply make AS a bigger cog in a smaller wheel?

The sale isn't as random as it might appear. The Najafi Companies have been involved in book- and publishing-related ventures before; also, Najafi CEO Jahm Najafi, along with several family members, apparently used AS services to publish their own books. Plus, in 2013 AS's former CEO Kevin Weiss became CEO of (now-bankrupt) SkyMall, which at the time was owned by Najafi.

At the time of AS's acquisition by Pearson--for what I thought was a surprisingly low price, given AS's then-dominant position in the self-publishing services world--I wondered whether AS was really a good investment, with its old-fashioned POD-centric production model, not to mention its large fees and dreadful reputation. Just over three years later, AS finds itself with a new owner. You do the math.

As for AS's reputation, it's as bad as ever, and problems still plague its many imprints: poor customer service, problems with payment, deceptive advertising, high-priced services (particularly marketing services). Will the Najafi Companies take steps to address all of this? Or will they, like PRH, simply reap the profits and look the other way?

Only time will tell. In the meantime, AS needs to change its logo...

UPDATE: More coverage of the sale, from Mick Rooney at The Independent Publishing Magazine. "In a sense Author Solutions has now come full circle, back under private ownership, but with nothing like the foothold it once had in the self-publishing sector."

UPDATE: Frequent AS critic David Gaughran weighs in, pointing out that though PRH no longer owns AS, AS still runs four imprints for it: the three Partridges and MeGustaEscribir. Also, David says, "we must remember that Author Solutions isn’t closing down; it will continue to operate under a new owner – one which has announced no plans to reform the worst abuses, and which instead signaled its intent to continue the aggressive international expansion that was the hallmark of Penguin Random House’s ownership."

It will be interesting to see if and how Najafi changes ASI. Despite the decline in the number of books with ASI ISBNs hitting the market, ASI still signs on thousands of writers a year, maybe tens of thousands. Will Najafi try to expand that market reach by improving services and image, or will they try to squeeze more out of each unsuspecting writer regardless of the effect of the ASI reputation?

I work for ASI and it's not actually the company who is putting the reputation at risk but it's the people working behind it. I have colleagues who sugarcoat things which are very pleasing to the ears but will only provide false hopes.

It is stunning to me as to the mega thousands of naïve authors who have been roped in by Author Solutions and its various step-children. It's aggressive upsell tactics--pushing those to buy what they offer that they have no business buying in the first place; highly inconsistent quality of product that comes out the door; and frankly, the level of untruths that get dished in procuring new customers is unbelievable. I suspect there is more behind the separation of Penguin and ASI then in public ... maybe the negative hits on a once very reputable publisher became a reality check?

As of December of 2018, I see several recent posts on PissedConsumer.com, from authors who've been scammed by Xlibris and Author Solutions. I've pointed a few of them (and people reading their reviews) your way.

I had Diamond Media Press contact me and when I told them I had found them on this blog, they tried telling me that Writer's Beware was run by Author Solutions and that I would not find articles about AS or any of their partners on here. I told him I had and refused his deal. He then called me back 4+ times to argue that I should do more research. I am glad this article is here, haha.

Haha indeed. Just plug "Author Solutions" into the search box at the top of the blog, and you can see how many times I've written about AS and its "partners". (This makes a refreshing change from accusing me of owning my own publishing company.)